POLICE are hunting a woman in stiletto-heeled boots who they believe laid into an unconscious man as he lay bleeding on the ground.

Dressed in a dark coat with a fur-lined hood and the stiletto -heeled pointed boots which she used to kick 25-year-old Mark Gull in the head, the young woman walks through Piccadilly railway station, Manchester, without a care in the world.

With her on the CCTV image is a woman from a group of six people who became annoyed after Mark and his wife Michele, 23, went by accident to the wrong end of a taxi queue at a rank outside the station in Fairfield Street.

It is thought the barefoot woman by her side may have tried to prevent her friend and others from kicking Mark after he was head-butted to the ground.

Police are hoping witnesses in the station in the early hours of Sunday morning may remember seeing the barefooted woman with a man with a dark-coloured shirt with white writing or a line design logo on the back.

Following the horrific attack, credit controller Mark ended up on the floor with his distraught wife trying to shield him from punches and kicks by the group. She was punched and pulled from him during their ordeal. Yesterday police said they wanted to hear from witnesses including taxi drivers around at the time and any members of the group, particularly those who did not take part in the violence.

Hurt

Detectives believe the woman in a white top or jacket with blonde hair shown walking past a taxi in the second CCTV picture may be one of those who stood back as others mounted what they have described as an "unprovoked attack".

Speaking about it afterwards Michele said her enduring memory was of holding her husband in her arms, looking at his face covered in blood and not knowing whether he was alive or dead.

Moments later he regained consciousness before being rushed to hospital by paramedics.

He is now recovering at home in Cheshire.

Police want to bring Mark's attackers to justice to prevent them being able to hurt anyone else.

Det Con Mike Gore said: "We are seeking the identity of the people depicted in the photographs and for witnesses who were in the immediate area at the time of the attack."

Anyone with information is asked to contact British Transport Police on 0161 228 5685 or 0800 405040, or the confidential Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555 111.